Unwanted and Unloved
by Sparks-of-Interest
Summary: Being commissioned to steal a few documents was nothing out of the usual for Mai, so why now did it all have to go so terribly wrong? Maybe she shouldn't have taken this job after all..
1. Infiltration

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own any of the characters or their backstories, they all belong to their rightful owners. I only own my plot.**

The cold, cavernous walls seemed to grow closer to her with every cautious step she took. Her breathing quickened when she realized there was someone nearby, luckily, just as they crept closer, she had hidden in an alcove to the side. Hidden beneath the shadows, the figure simply walked by her, without a second of hesitation to suggest that they had noticed her.

Slowly, when she knew they were gone, the young girl slipped out of her hiding place into a bright hallway, long black hair swishing on her hips behind her. She checked her surroundings, so as to not have such a close call again, and came back with nothing regarding shinobi. As she again walked down the long and maze-like hallway, she recalled why she was even here in the first place.

 _"They won't suspect you, you're the only one who can get what I need, Mai." The raven haired man stated emotionlessly, though she had known the man long enough now, to pick up the urgency in his voice. He simply stared at her with onyx eyes, silently pleading with her to complete this 'simple' task he had given her._

 _"Fine, but don't expect me to do every little thing you ask, I'm not like your little lackeys." She finally replied, earning a small smirk of respect from the shinobi protégé. He slowly approached her, giving her the scroll that contained information vital for this mission._

 _"You won't regret this, Mai." The Uchiha said with an arrogant but grateful smile, directed towards her. The small amount of malice in his words weren't missed as she began walking away from that horrible place. He knew that she wouldn't betray him, he knew that she would complete her mission. But what he didn't know, was he had underestimated her abilities for the last time._

 _"I'm sure I will..." she whispered under her breath as she disappeared from the hideout, greeting her friends known as shadows. This was going to be a long night._

Mai scoffed to herself as she finally approached the door to which she had been looking for all night. She quickly checked for chakra signatures inside and when she found it safe, pushed the door handle down just enough so as to not make a sound, when it clicked back up. The slender girl slunk into the room and closed the door silently behind her, only to turn around and find a mess of papers on the desk, bed, closet and even the en-suite bathroom for god's sake.

Immediately, she began sorting through papers, letters and correspondents, nothing seeming important to her. Suddenly, a yellow piece of paper caught her sapphire eyes, drawing her attention away from everything else in the room. Only the corner of the paper was sticking out from underneath a pile of clothes, making it seem more interesting than it probably was. Mai lifted the clothes off and onto the bed, making sure to note their exact position to be replaced again later. She carefully picked up the paper, reading it, only to almost drop it again from the pure shock that had hit her. Her blue eyes scanned every word again and again, numbers and names. _Names._

Drinking in every word, the shadows creeping closer, warning her of impending doom, Mai cursed herself quietly. She folded the piece of paper and stuffed it into her pack, slowly bringing her attention back to the room. She had hit the jackpot with that, now she had to simply escape the compound and get back to Konoha. As if she would go back to that dreaded place.

A spike of chakra nearby brought her out of her thoughts as she quickly dropped the small smile she had worn previously. The shinobi realized that she was trapped within the room if the intruder, or rather inhabitant of the base, decided to come near her current position. Though, she breathed a silent sigh of relief when the person simply walked by, honestly, what is it with S-class shinobi and thinking that there wasn't anyone to hurt them. Finally creeping out of her spot, Mai swiftly exited the dull room and made her way through the hideout. Only stopping when she reached an unfamiliar passage, gods, was she lost?

"HIDAAAAAANNNNN!" a booming voice shook the walls of stone, emphasizing the fact that she should be running. Picking up her pace to a sprint, Mai turned at every chance she got and eventually smelled the night air and heard crickets chirping. Though what she found was not in fact the outside she had been hoping for, but actually an underground training ground of some sort. She heard footsteps behind her so she quickly hid in the shrubbery of the underground forest. Waiting, hoping, she would go unfound.

The footsteps followed her into the training room, revealing the owner of the booming voice to be a very irritated Akatsuki member known as Kakuzu. At least she thought so. The clashing of blade on blade terrified her, though Kakuzu simply stalked angrily in the direction of the metallic noises. Mai took that as her cue to leave, she sprinted out of the bushes and made her way out of the training grounds. She was not going to stick around to hear the conversation between the Akatsuki members, she was not going to be caught.

Her black hair acted as a cape behind her as she dashed in and out of corridors, trying to find the exit. After being thoroughly convinced she was lost, she ducked into a small room and opened the scroll that the damned Uchiha had given her to help navigate the complex. Apparently, she had taken too many wrong turns and now had no way of finding out where she even was on the badly drawn map. So, the black-haired ninja decided the only way she was getting out of this place was just running around until she found the exit.

Mai pushed herself out of the small room and into the hallway with new resolve, she would just have to use her instincts. Again, she started running to what she thought must be the exit of the compound, only to come face to face with a large set of oak doors, which looked similar to the ones she had faced when first entering this dreaded place. She heard a banging noise in the room down the hall and decided it would be best to hide in the room in front of her.

She slipped quietly into the large room, checking the hall she had been only seconds ago for signatures, finding no more than two walking the opposite direction of the large room she currently inhabited. She slowly turned around, only to choke on her sigh as she saw someone sleeping, she hoped, in the large four-poster bed less than two meters away from her. Snoring, no less.

From her point of view, this could either be really bad, or death. Hopefully the latter was not going to be her fate. The young girl didn't move for ten minutes out of fear that he might wake up, but eventually she would have to leave, or else he would just wake up naturally. There was no telling how long he had been asleep for already, meaning that he could wake up any second and slit her throat. Which, she decided, was not a pleasant thing.

Slowly, quietly, deathly silent and only moving every two seconds by a millimeter, she made her way towards the door. She prayed to gods above, the devil below, anything and everything she could think of that he wouldn't wake from his slumber. Only after almost another ten minutes of agonizingly slow movement did she finally make it to the door. Her mind was reeling from the pressure she was putting on herself to no move too much, to not make a single coherent, or even incoherent, noise.

'Knock knock knock' and her fate was sealed. The snoring had stopped and she heard rustling behind her. She quickly unsheathed her katana from where it sat on her back, only to be stopped halfway by a strong hand on her mouth, preventing screams.

"Yes?" the man behind her spoke, his voice so deep that it rumbled from where his chest, _bare_ chest, was touching her back. She didn't allow herself to shiver out of pure fear, focusing entirely on remaining strong.

"Deidara and Tobi have returned from their mission, would you like them to report?" it was a female voice that spoke, Mai recognized the two names that she had said and immediately tensed as she realized that they were lackeys, and the only person that they would report to was-

"No, just tell them to report tomorrow morning." The low voice of the leader of the Akatsuki said. She was in deep shit, that was for sure.

There was a moment of silence before the sound of heels clicking sounded, telling her that it had indeed been a woman he was talking to. After the sound of clicking had faded, Mai let out a quiet breath, as did the man behind her, tickling her neck. This again alerted her to the fact that a very dangerous man was currently behind her. ' _Shit_ ', was all she could think as the man behind her moved away and towards the bed again.

Mai turned around like lightning to be met with the sight of a very, and she was _not_ exaggerating, pierced man with ringed, violet eyes. He was simply staring at her, as she did to him, clearly sizing each other up. The only difference between them was the small smirk that he wore on his otherwise emotionless face. She noticed this and instantly decided she didn't like how easily he had changed from nothing, to a devilish smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"So," she was startled by his deep voice, regardless that she had heard it less than a minute ago, "what brings you to my hideout?" the malice in his voice did not go unnoticed and she felt herself tense up slightly at the sound of it. The way this was going, she probably wouldn't live to see the sunrise in the morning.


	2. Uchiha Brat

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own any of the characters or their backstories, they all belong to their rightful owners. I only own my plot and my original character (Mai).**

He had been drifting between the nightmares that often plagued him, and a candle lit room, when he sensed the chakra signature enter his compound. It was small, but it was clear enough for him to sense it, though Pein couldn't say the same for the other members of the Akatsuki. His ringed, violet eyes followed the intruder throughout the hideout, interested in who this shinobi thought they were, to be invading the _Akatsuki's_ hideout.

The intruder suddenly made a turn towards the member's rooms, they certainly were daring, unfortunately for him though, there was no one currently in their rooms. His eyes slightly widened when they entered Kakuzu's room. They seemed to have made every turn, using the quickest route, meaning they knew where they were going. The leader would have to reprimand his members and the rouge ninja he used to gather information, one of them must have leaked something about the hideout. This just pissed him off even more.

Pein could tell that most of the members were either in the training room or the kitchen, the exception being Kakuzu who was currently heading in the direction of his room. The intruder had already left when the masked ninja arrived at the door, running around the corner just out of sight of Kakuzu. They must be either really smart or really stupid, to be able to enter his hideout with such confidence.

He noticed the chakra signature moving at a rapid speed throughout the hideout, heading towards the exit, but taking a wrong turn towards the training room. Pein inwardly scoffed, so they _were_ stupid. Pein wondered if the others in the training room would sense her, or if he would have to reprimand them sternly for not being aware enough.

* * *

The scum that had intruded his hideout did end up surprising the Akatsuki leader, with their stupidity, when they walked towards the kitchen but then ended up getting scared when they heard a loud bang coming from inside. If he recalled, Deidara was on cooking duty tonight, so most likely he had broken yet another expensive dish. Kakuzu was going to be pissed.

What he didn't expect though, was for the intruder to come into _his_ room, to escape the rest of the Akatsuki. Pein feigned sleep, but watched with his Rinnegan as the intruder turned to reveal themselves as a young girl with sweeping, obsidian black hair. She turned around slowly, seemingly relaxed, as she suddenly was left wide-eyed and choking on a breath of relief at the mistake she had made. Pein almost laughed when she tried to move as slowly as possible to turn and leave, which took a surprisingly long time. To be fair though, if he wasn't awake, he wouldn't have known she was there she was so silent.

The kunoichi had only just made it to the door handle when Pein sensed Konan about to knock. Konan brought down her hand on the door, barely retrieving his attention away from the frightened little deer who was now as frozen as ice. The Akatsuki leader quickly rose from the soft sheets on which he had previously slept, and made his way towards the door where the surprisingly beautiful girl was currently withdrawing a sword from her back. Deciding that Konan might be slightly miffed at the idea of an intruder being in his room, he quickly stopped her blade from being retrieved from her back and threw a hand over her mouth preventing her from causing more trouble.

"Yes?" the Rinnegan user spoke to his comrade, barely containing laughter, when the young kunoichi seemed to stiffen even further at his closeness.

"Deidara and Tobi have returned from their mission, would you like them to report?" his blue-haired friend usually would handle this sort of stuff while he slept, but this was a mission relating to a tail-beast. The girl in his arms immediately tensed at the mention of his subordinates, most likely realizing what kind of situation she had thrown herself into.

"No, just tell them to report tomorrow morning." The fiery-haired ninja quickly spoke to his teammate in a sleep-filled voice, essentially pushing the point across that he was tired and did not want to be disturbed. However, it was quite the opposite.

The sound of Konan's footsteps retreating snapped him out of his thoughts. Unexpectedly, both Pein and the young kunoichi let out small sighs of relief, though her relief was short-lived as he released her from his grip. He had only just released her when she spun around so quickly, that he thought she might have gotten whiplash from the absolute speed.

The glimpse Pein had received from his Rinnegan didn't do the young girl justice as his gaze met her azure blue eyes, a colour which he imagined came from puddles of rain on a day without clouds, with a sky of the bluest blue. When he finally managed to tear away from her gaze, he let his own survey the rest of her. Overall, she was of small stature, but that simply meant she was most likely faster than most he knew.

"So," she flinched as he spoke, "what brings you to my hideout?" Pein could not help the smirk that was currently stuck to his face, the girl's brilliant eyes widened and her mouth was suddenly agape thinking of something to say. Pein noticed a small piece of yellow paper at the edge of his vision as he looked at her sideways. Moving so he could face her, Pein observed a small red cloud on the corner of the paper, along with a few names of which were within sight of his Rinnegan and it was immediately apparent what the objective of her mission was.

The sleek-haired girl must have followed his line of vision towards her pack, as she proceeded to dart out of the double oak doors, and sprinted through the hideout desperately. Pein followed her closely behind, all amusement he had previously held for the kunoichi disintegrated in an instance when he discovered just what that piece of paper had been. He was going to kill Kakuzu.

* * *

This was much worse than that Uchiha brat had said it was going to be. According to information she had come across earlier in the week, the leader of the Akatsuki was supposed to be away from Rain and in Lightning country for the next month.

 _So what in the **hell**_ _is he doing **here**?!_ Mai shook the thought away and stored it away for another time, mentally noting that she would kill whoever gave the false information. Mai quickly found another set of oak doors, similar to the ones she had seen at the entrance to the hideout. Hoping that it was not another death trap, she ran straight into the large wooden doors, grunting at the weight, to find a glorious forest and moonlight shining down on her through rain clouds.

At the sight of her freedom, Mai sprinted through foliage and pushed her chakra into her legs, achieving a height equivalent to a nearby tree. She landed and immediately bounded off it and onto the next. She glanced over her shoulder in fear of how far, or close, Pein might be, quickly regretting it when she almost lost her footing on a stray branch. Her sweeping black hair flew like wings behind her as she increased her speed, catching Pein off guard as she sped off and out of sight of the formidable leader of the Akatsuki.

* * *

Great. Now what was he going to do, most of the Akatsuki had sensed him chasing after someone, though they might not know who right now, they were most likely going to search through each and every one of their contacts to find out. Pein sighed roughly as he pushed his Rinnegan further and further in search of the kunoichi, hoping she had left some sort of trace, however small or-

Pein sped through the forest and finally dropped down to the ground to see a damaged flower with only a few petals intact. He thought she must have landed here; Pein cloaked his chakra and swiftly followed a small, but visible, path leading towards Konoha. He had to get to her before she made it within Konoha's barrier, otherwise he would likely never see her or the information she gathered, ever again. Unfortunately, that could mean the end of his organization if she somehow did manage to report the information on that slip of paper. Damn it all, he really was going to kill Kakuzu.


End file.
